It is one of the most consistent yield-limiting pests in soybean production.

Improved soybean varieties, however, often mask the symptoms of stunted chlorotic plants described when this pest was first found. Lack of above-ground symptoms does not mean that damage in the form of yield loss is not present.

Often slight yield loss can occur each year as the population builds under favorable conditions.

Surveys of Tennessee soybean fields for the presence of SCN have been ongoing for more than the last 10 years, supported in part through funding by the Tennessee Soybean Promotion Board.

The results of these samples have shown that SCN is present at a detectable level in slightly less than 50 percent of Tennessee soil samples. Some of these fields had stunted chlorotic plants and significant yield loss in spots of the field.